The automatic ice maker in our refrigerator is on the fritz.
Again.
Just in time for the annual 4th of July heat wave.
I am not happy.
The ice cube tray I now have to use?
Entirely too happy….
Sorry.
I had to….
So I got excited.
No, not that kind of excited.
Although now that I think about Chris… well, never mind.
I got excited because at 11:00am last Saturday the husband told me he was going to clean out the barn and set up a small yard sale.
My husband was going to get rid of his crap?
I was happy!
I was thrilled!
Hell, I admit it.
I was positively orgasmic.
I looked out the window and saw him sell something to a biker.
Yay!
All the useless Harley knick knacks and paraphernalia…. gone!
All those extra Kawasaki parts and accessories…. gone!
And then I looked out the window again.
And saw my late mother’s plant stand that I use on the porch…. gone.
My glass hummingbird feeders…. gone.
I was no longer excited.
And when I went outside to check exactly what it was he was selling?
Yeah.
It was 100% mine.
Bags of clothes slated for Salvation Army donation, kitchen ware I was going to give his niece who’s moving into her first apartment, books that I trade with a friend.
He even had my hydrangea fertilizer on the table.
But the worst part? The part that really had my jaw clenched….
He set this all up, and left.
Went to visit his brother and expected me to sit there and sell all the items I had no intention of selling in the first place.
The man has a death wish.
There’s really no other explanation that makes sense.
Things I like today.
1. Kicking back on the barn porch on a summer evening after a long day of mowing and trimming the lawn?
Wonderful.
Margarita in a can?
Not so much.
But it’s alcohol.. with a view.
So I like.
2. With a shout out to Mona at Wayward Sparkles who introduced me to this marvelous piece of mechanical engineering)
I read her blog and thought, damn…. I have to have one.
And then I thought, gifts!
So I had to have 2 more.
Are you all here?
Good.
Viola!
A bell you can ring to summon the elixir of the Gods.
In pink no less!
I believe this little darling will be getting quite a work out at Casa River.
If only I could order the hot cabana boy to go with it…
I like.
And finally, ladies…
Do you have old, dry wood?
No, I’m not talking about your husbands.
We have stained wood moulding, doors, window frames and sills, and built in stained bookcases etc. basically every piece of trim is unpainted wood. They’re original to the house and tend to dry out/fade from sunlight and winter heating.
So I found this on Amazon –
Half a bottle did 12 doors and frames, 5 windows and frames and 2 large tables.
It’s good stuff. Witness the before and after…
Brings back the shine and feeds your thirsty wood with very little effort.
I like.
Thank you..
Thank you very much.
The pollen apocalypse.
Forget zombies.
Forget nuclear war.
The pollen is here and I swear it’s going to kill me before the other things have a chance.
This year we’ve seen a crazy increase in pollen. While we normally have a few days of yellow dust choking our air every spring, here we are starting July and we’re still covered in the crap.
How much pollen is too much pollen?
The barn porch furniture is covered.
The kitchen porch is covered.
The back deck is covered.
It’s in every outdoor crevice.
And running down the driveway in streams after a rain.
Nothing escapes it.
Open your windows?
It covers the stove.
And the washing machine.
You know those crazy videos you see on the news…
The ones where someone shakes a tree and clouds of pollen emerge?
I saw our neighbor do that but didn’t have my camera handy….
It’s insane.
I knew it!
Chickens.
They’re marvelous creatures.
Much maligned….
And underappreciated.
But now..
I’ve discovered this.
And all is right with the world.
Baby chucker update.
What…
You thought I’d run out of cute baby woodchuck pictures?
No, they’re still here.
And still adorable.
So there will be baby woodchuck butt shots….
Baby woodchuck eating apple shots…
Baby woodchuck following momma shots…
Baby woodchuck napping on the deck in the sun shots…
And various baby woodchucks just looking too damned cute shots for days, okay weeks, to come.
There’s even woodchuck baby I’m too fat fluffy to take a bath without falling over videos.
Which, btw…. took me two and half hours to upload to YouTube with our slow as molasses internet connection.
A little appreciation would not be unwelcome.
That’s better.
In case you didn’t know….
Don’t worry..
I do.
Did you know…. after the battle of Waterloo in 1815, dentures were made from the teeth of dead soldiers? They were given to wealthy people who experienced tooth decay due to consuming too much sugar.
I’m not sure how bad my teeth would have to be before I wore a dead man’s… but I’m guessing pretty bad.
Did you know….. mosquitoes are attracted to people who have recently eaten bananas?
This explains why I’m swarmed every time I start my morning with a smoothie.
Did you know…. castoreum, the vanilla flavored food additive used in baked goods can be listed as “natural flavoring” because it comes from the anal glands of beavers?
Thankfully it’s hard to procure and prohibitively expensive, so I doubt we’ll be finding it in our Twinkies anytime soon.
I’m sure the beavers aren’t thrilled either…
Did you know…. preparing an Egyptian mummy took upwards of 70 days, and dead noblewomen were allowed to ripen for few days prior to the procedure so the embalmers wouldn’t find them too attractive.
Makes you wonder just how desperate for a date those fellows were….
Did you know.… Kemosabe means “soggy shrub” in the Navajo language?
Good ole Tonto, not quite the faithful sidekick you thought he was.
Did you know…. woodpecker scalps, porpoise teeth and giraffe tails have all been used as currency at one time or another?
This is good news for me as I am currently awash in woodchuck poo and am hoping it will be the next monetary trend.
Momma gonna make it rain up in here!
green. Green. GREEN!
We had a very wet spring… and it looks like we’re going to have a very wet summer as well.
Our lawn is still part swamp, numerous perennials have drowned and I am beginning to feel moldy.
At times it feels like we’ll never dry out.
But the result of all this infernal moisture is green.
Sprawling lawns of verdant green…
It took us a little longer to get Casa River in shape this year….
Because as soon as the warm temperatures hit there was an explosion of growth.
My pink honeysuckle was glorious and grew twice as wide.
Every single shrub is screaming for a haircut.
And the plants aren’t the only ones growing.
We have a pair of foxes with a den in our woods. They come up every evening to feed and carry pieces back to their young.
The woodchucks babies are scampering every where and curious as all get out.
These two were fascinated with the husband’s wet, smelly work boots.
No accounting for woodchuck taste apparently.
Summer may have been long in coming…
But it looks like it’s going to be an abundant season.
Zapped!
So I cruised my followers list the other day and did a bit of belated spring cleaning.
Good bye mortgage company people, how to make money online people, unique items you can’t find anywhere else people….
If you’re blatantly a business and have never commented, liked or read a single word I’ve posted?
You’re outta here.
I’ve been blogging for more years than I care to count, and while I enjoy WP immensely… I have to say I’ve never been on a site that has so much digital commerce.
For pity’s sake…. I have salesmen knocking on my door trying to sell me boxes of frozen meat. I have telemarketers calling nonstop trying to sell me car warranties and vinyl siding. I have girlfriends trying to rope me into attending a dinner party so they can sell me Pampered Chef products.
Enough already! My blog is a sales free zone.
And I’m zapping.
(Sorry, cleaning analogies are over. But that’s a chicken…
Riding a vacuum cleaner…
While laying an egg.
These things must be shared.)
If you’re selling Cryptocurrency?
Please move along.
That’s not my idea of blogging.
Then there are these people…
They set up a site but never use it.
Why do you bother, and why do you always follow me? I engage with my readers damn it!
So…
It’s surprising how many of these followers sneak in without you noticing.
When’s the last time you checked your list? I bet you have 50 or so lurking like I did.
Start zapping. It feels good to kick them to the curb….
Unless you’re one of those bloggers who needs a high follower count for personal validation.
Then by all means, you do you.
Feel free to have a bloated list.
I won’t judge.
Okay, maybe just a little.
The Meyer Briggs test said I have to…
P.S. Sometimes I write and schedule blogs upwards of a week in advance. Since writing this?
Five of the zapped are back.
Perhaps I’m more irresistible than I thought.
A little rain, a lot of alcohol.
Saturday we had tickets to an afternoon festival promoting local beer and food. It was called The Taste of Summer and was being held on the old Navy base. The band were friends of friends and we were looking forward to it. Until the heavens opened up on the way over….
It was raining, thunder was booming and people were standing on line wearing trash bags.
We sat in the car for a while, thinking it would pass… which is when it started to hail and festival goers ran for cover.
Seeing that trash bags aren’t a good look for me, and I generally prefer to do my drinking while dry…. we left and headed for Boothbay Harbor.
Which is always a good idea.
Boothbay is one of our favorite places to walk…
To sight see…
To eat…
And yes, to drink.
(Don’t be shocked, it’s been know to happen on occasion.)
First stop… The Boathouse Bistro.
Best damn food in Boothbay Harbor.
Appetizers were Coconut Lime Ginger Mussels for the husband and my friend.
Those babies were huge!
Cajun Shrimp and Cheesy Grits for me.
I hate grits. I love these.
Enough said…
A Harborside Lemonade and a Summer Bliss later, I dove into Pan Seared Scallops on Parmesan Mushroom Risotto with Citrus Wilted Arugula. You could have killed me right then and there… and I’d have died happy.
Husband had a deconstructed Beef Wellington with split lobster tail and goat cheese mushroom compote.
Girlfriend had 2 rum punches and a Bourbon Brown Sugar Glazed Ribeye with rosemary fingerling potatoes and broccolini.
We were happy campers.
But onward.
Technically it already had, we were two cocktails in… but the bar hopping portion of our afternoon/evening will now commence.
Trust me when I say a good time was had by all.
Second stop… The World is Mine Oyster. A bit of a dive, but keep walking… through the hallway, up the winding stairs, thru the restaurant and out on the deck?
One of the best views of the harbor.
And 2 sea green margaritas.
Life is good.
Third stop… The Harborside Tavern.
This was a place we’d never been before and though we sat at the bar instead of enjoying the view….
One extremely strong bourbon filled Perfect Storm later?
I didn’t much care. The bartender was so heavy handed she either loved us.. or hated us. I still don’t know which.
Fourth and final stop…. The Boothbay Harbor Inn, where things got interesting.
Needless to say we were feeling no pain by then.
This is across the harbor from where we started and has a beautiful view as well.
Our bartender was an adorable little exchange student from Romania named Meihi.
With whom my soon to be divorced friend was instantly smitten.
Of course Happy Hour Blueberry Mules may have had something to do with that.
At this point it started to pour again….
So what else could we do but stay and drink?
We drank. And made friends with a group that was staying at the inn.
We drank. And watched the cute bartender play bar games.
We drank. Until the sun started to set and I figured we shouldn’t drink anymore.
For this…
My cheeky friend flipped me off.
Sunset.
In Boothbay Harbor…
Is a beautiful thing.
My girlfriend trying to pole dance on the parking meter?
Not so much.
Clearly some of us had a better time than others….
River's world..... 